Open bottom aquarium, Worklogg with pictures!

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MartinBr

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Hello everyone :)
I've decided to create my own aquarium, because the aquariums I can buy in the store won't fit in my place. Im going to use it for axolotl, so i know the tower won't do much good, but anyway it looks friggin awesome and maybe I can keep som type of fish up there that dosent bother the axolotl. Any tips would be great:)

The aquarium base is going to be 60cmx50cm and the tower is 1m high and a base of 48cmx30cm.

Update 1:
I have just gotten the glass and build up my working space. Im going to start the assembly right after dinner!
More pictures and update will come later when im done assembleing :)

http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/Martbr/

Anyone know how to choose which order the pictures are showing in the album? They are totally out of order...

Update 2:
The main part of the tank is made! now it just have to cure to about 6 o'clock tomorrow :D then ill check for leaks and etc. If anyone is curious about my building steps I will gladly tell you:) Just took a break before starting to build the tower. I removed the pictures from this post and rather just link to my photobucket album :) If also have theese great steel lists I can use on the edges of the maintank to protect other people from thoose dangerous sharp edges :p

http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/Martbr/
 
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I allready have the glassfor the tower and paid for it :p Im most likely going to try to sell the aquarium later and buy a bigger and better one for my axolotl:) So it will only be use for some weeks or something. If im going to keep some fish inside the tower that will produce waste, then its just a mather of cleaning more often, to keep it comfy for the axolotl. Its just a project I have wanted to do for some few years now.
 
Update 3:
As i wasnt able to edit my post anymore i had to make a new one :eek:
Anyway, Im finished with both parts now and i am impressed of myself :rolleyes:

Along the way i figured that if i want a bigger tank later i can just take of the short side of the tower cut it a little then mount it at what is the bottom of the tower, and voila then i have a 1mx48,8cm and a height of 30,2cm :eek:

Im going to let it all cure untill i get back from work tomorrow. I will also take a look at the metal list we sell at work and see if i can mount them ( dont want anymore accidents on this dangerous aquarium:p) Ill fill it with water after that and let it sit for one day and check if there are any leaks.

Also i managed to get the right order on the pictures on photobucket so i had to make a new album. Here's the link Aquarium pictures by Martbr - Photobucket
Be sure to read the descriptions on every photo!:D

I want to say to all of you that remember that this is done by me a 17 year old and i did it all by myself! i hope i encourage someone else to start on some of there projects;)

Feel free to comment!

Update 4:
I didn't have much to do when I was done building the aquarium and I were really keen on seeing how it was with the lists on the edge. So I took my motorcycle drove up to work and took what i needed :D I must have been looking like a burgular in my motorcycle gear lurking around in the dark xD I cut them and mounted them at once I got home:)

Again, check out the pics here: http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af114/Martbr/Aquarium/ and be sure to leave a comment! :)
 
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Update 5:
Today i have removed all the excess silicone and i took of the duct tape. Must say im very pleased. I filled the aquarium with water and had a friend help me suck the water up into the water. It looks like there are no leaks but i spilled som water and cant be sure before it dries up.

Check out the pictures! Aquarium pictures by Martbr - Photobucket
 
Fantastic dude. That DOES look pro. Maybe you can make em' and sell em'! I'll really be interested to see this thing set up. Very impressive. :happy:
 
Ill let it sit for tomorrow and be sured there are no leaks. If there are no leaks im going to take it inside and set it up with plants,sand and stone etc. I found out i screwed up abit with the measurements so its going to be a tight fit. Looking forward to getting it done and post pictures!
 
I must say, this is a awesome post! If its not too hard I may make one in a few years.
 
I can say that i have not much experience doing this. What i did was buying som small cheap plexi glass and start with thoose just to try it :) The glass and silicone isnt too expensive either. I used tech 7 supposely world strongest glue, they even advertise that it can glue under water :p I hade great experience with this from before, because i work at a high quality tile shop and we use this alot. I saw some guy do some math on it and he found out that it was almost 3 times stronger then regular aquarium silicone. I must admit that i found it to be easier than i thought, and with some planning and asking some professionals about some tips i would say that you could do this without any problems.

I have been thinking alot on how to scape it. But i am definetly getting a floating little plastig boat to put at the water inside the tower and make tied it with a little anchor to the bottom of the tank :p i think it will be awesome :D
 
I have a tried a couple of tanks... but they were not "quite" Square.

Are you sure that tech 7 doesn't leach any toxic chemicals after it's cured? I don't know... just asking. Seems like good stuff. We don't have it here.
 
Yup im absolutelty sure :) But im abit angry on myself right now. I were really carefull to get everything to big as bit as possible and i made as little clearance as possible... Not a good idea! I ended up with having to put the tower the wrong way and im going to have problems making it fit into the space i've planned for it. Im absolutely sure that im going to make the tower into another aquarium and build a smaller tower for the other tank. I think i will be mored pleased that way.

I forgot to tell that there were no leaks in the aquarium! at least one thing worked as i planned :p
 
Going to try getting it inside soon. Having som visitors thats using my room so ill have to wait a little. Im really starting to think about just making it into 2 tank at once. Can have 1 for breeding feeding fish for ex.
Ill have to wait untill next week before i get to do anything.

Tec 7 is pretty tough! I glued down the metal lists with it and i was really struggling with tearing them off for replacing them.
 
so ive been a little busy lately, but i have gotten the aquarium set up!:D

Im trying to sort out a way for fitting a much larger tank somewhere in the house, but its still under the thinking progress. As for now the Ohm'r and Voltrata live in the main tank and they seem to be enjoying it:eek: Im going to use the tower in our fish pond, because my attempt at deassembleing the tower was much harder than i thought... Tec 7 is the strongest thing i ever seen:eek: Going to post pictures of that too when i get it in there and stuff;)

Anyway, i have decorated the axolotls home with plants,sand and a nice vase (from mexico, a little homely touch:cool:) I've ordered a Zoo med 501 filter of the internet and hope that i will recieve it soon. The last one i ordered you sent back to the seller completely smashed, so i got a refund and had to buy from another distributor. Im also going to order 100 earthworms and im going to try start a small worm farm.(tips would be great!:confused:) Just need to get a agreement on the prices, im greedy and stubborn:rolleyes: Im really looking forward feeding them live worms instead of thoose messy blood worms.
Im also going to install a light with a dimmer because the back of the tank is way to dark...

An a update on Ohm'r and Voltrata. Ohm'r feets are almost fully grown out :) and both have become alot more active. They arent especially shy so they always lay in the open and chill. Actually while i was writing this Ohm'r checked out the inside of the vase(after 2 days) :p

Pictures of my set up:
Aquarium pictures by Martbr - Photobucket
 
So yea, i had no luck with the tower so i decided to put it in the fish pond.
The carps love it, up and down all the time :D

Ill maybe start a new project later with making a tower that actually fits in the tank i made :p

Posting the pictures of the tower here. I know it looks like its falling, but i have allready fixed it :happy:
 

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Wow, your aquarium that looks great!:D
 
Actually makes me want to get back to work on my pond XD yours looks much better than my hole in the dirt XD

Good job, it's very interesting.
 
At first it was actually just a hole in the dirt:p We bought a plastic fish pond that we fitted into the hole. Then after a while we bought fish pond sheeting or something that we just layed down in the allready existing plastic pond. Build the rest up with sand and made the wooden walls. Actually upclose the tank looks awfull... And its always filling up with algae almost at once. I think it goes 2-3 days after we have cleaned it. Thoose fish ponds that are made in concrete looks so much easier to clean, and most of them are painted so that you can se the fish more easily.

Thanks for all the great responses :)
 
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